Edison worker dies while working in Menifee

A Southern California Edison worker died Thursday morning in Menifee while working on underground equipment near Murrieta and Ridgemoor roads, company officials announced.

Firefighters were responding to a technical rescue call around 7:47 a.m. when they found a worker who had died in the underground electrical vault after exposure to a high voltage line, authorities said.

He was later identified as 38-year-old Jose Raul Ros of Winchester.

All told, three other Edison employees were taken to area hospitals for treatment, Edison officials said.

Menifee Crime Watch volunteers who were securing the surrounding streets said residents reported hearing an explosion early Thursday morning.

Menifee resident Mike Steele, 33, said he felt the blast before 7 a.m. at his home, which was about nine blocks away from the site of the explosion. The incident reportedly left about 4,000 customers without power for a few hours.

An Edison spokesman said Thursday's incident was not related to a Wednesday outage that left more than 22,000 customers without power in the Menifee, Quail Valley, Sun City, Canyon Lake and Perris communities.

That outage was the result of vandalism and copper theft, Edison officials said.